Trolley wire support



Feb. 12, 1935. s. s. MATTHES TROLLEY WIRE SUPPORT Filed March 16, 193.4

v In vcntor SAMUEL JMTZH A itomey which are secured UNI ED I TATE TRoLL Y WIRE j sU Ponr I amucl S. Matthes, Mansfield, The Ohio Brass Company, corporation of New Jersey Ohio, assignor to Mansfield, IOhiO, a

Application March 16, 1934, SerialflNo. 715,935 5 Claims; ((01. 191-43) My invention relates to supports fortrolley wire conductors. 1

The object of my invention is to provide a support for trolley wire havi ng incorporated in they support means for eliminating or materially reducing the arcing between a lector and the lips or jaws passing current colof the support, which arcing has a decided tendency to very rapidly wear or cause the lips of My invention resides construction, combination and relation of the the ear to; deteriorate. in the. new and novel partsherein descrfbed and shown in the attached drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side view in elevation of one form of my invention as applied to a trolley ear..

Fig. 2 is a top view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 member later described.

is a top View of the yielding contact In the preferred embodiment or my invention I employ a trolley ear or clamp 1 provided with a threaded boss 2 and depending lips 3 adapted to be formed about the trolley wire 4 as shown in Fig. 3 and forming between the lips a groove to receive the trolley wire prior to the bending of the lips.

The ear is also provided with webs 5 and integrally formed bosses 6 having a threaded recess to receive the screws '7.

I also provide a yielding contact member 8 attached to the bosses 6 The yielding contact means of the screws '7.

8 is formed preferably from sheet phosphor bronze which has a reasonably high conductivity and a h The member 8 could be but on account of its high liable to be considerable the passing current collector 9.

igh degree of resiliency. made from sheet steel resistance there is very arcing between it and The yielding contact member as shown in Fig. 4 is an elongated strip having side portions 10 connected by end portions 11.

each other are tongues 12 wardly and toward at one and the other end from the side portions by Projecting inend to the portions 11 free. The tongues are spaced the slots 13. The free ends of the tongues are provided with openings 14 to receive the screws '7.

The central portion 15 is open and free of obstructions so that the member 8 may be posi-.

tioned as shown and secured to the means of the screws '7.

It will be evident that being supported by the Ire bosses 6 by the contact member 8 e ends of the tongues 12 7 member 8 for a distance it will yield quite readily to upward pressure by the current collector 9; The resiliency of the member 8 may be regulated by the thickness of the material from which it is produced and also the manipulation in manufacture, that is, wheth- :5 er it is cold or hot rolled. I prefer the cold rolledmaterial.

The sideportionslO may be bent out of plane with the tongues12 as shown in Fig. 1 soas to regulate the height of the side portions 10 with respect to the 'loweriace or the .lips3 of the ear in order thatthe'current collector 9 will engage with the side portions 10 as shown in Fig. 3 as it passes across the ear.

It will be noted in Fig. 1 that the endsof the back from the ends are turned upwardly and this permits the current collector to engage the member 8 gradually thus eliminating any undue obstruction to the pas sage of the current collector across the ear.

The result secured by the use of my invention is to eliminate arcing between the lips or" the ear and the current. collector due to the fact that the flanges 16 of the current collector engage the contact 8 which is electrically connected to the bosses 6 and thus maintain electrical connection between the trolley wire and the current collector at all times as it passes across the car even though the current collector should be thrown out of contact with the lips in passing across the ear as is very frequently the case due to the ear offering a hard spot. Without the use of the contactor 8 if the contact is broken between the collector and the lips there will be an are formed which willburn the metal of the lips and shortly ruin them, but with the use of the spring contactor 8 this arcing will not take place at the lips and the life of the ear or other form of support will be materially increased. I

If the contactor is made of sufiiciently stiii material and the side portions 10 properly re- 1 lated to the lower surface of the lips 3 after being formed around the wire 4 it will be possible to pass the collector across the car without contacting with the lips 3 thus eliminating frictional wear of the lips.

The side portions 10 may be sprung sufficiently out of alignment to so increase the span therebetween that the contactor may be assembled over the boss 12.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

1. A trolley wire web's extending from the boss along the upper side of the groove portion and spaced bosses on the webs; an elongated contact member comprising a stamping from sheet metalhaving side portions positioned above the lower edge of the lips and extending along the length of the ear to be engaged by the flanges on a passing current collector, projecting tongues having one end connected to web bosses and the other end connected to the side portions through a. cross portion connecting the ends of the side portions.

2. A trolley wire device comprising an ear having an elongated groove portion formed of spaced lips to receive a trolley wire, a boss to support the device, a boss on each side of the support boss above the lips between the supporting boss and the end of the groove portion, a contact member of resilient sheet metal having a contact portion on each side of the supporting boss and extending along the length of the ear to be engaged'by a current collector, the side portions extending laterally from the ear in a common plane above the lower edge of the lips and resilient means supporting the side portions and secured to the second said bosses.

3. The combination with-a trolley wire of a trolley ear comprising lips to grip the Wire, a threaded support and a boss on each side of the support between the ends of the ear and the support, the wire and support and basses positioned in a common plane, a resilient contact formed of sheet metal positioned above the trolley wire and extending in a plane substantially parallel to the wire and at right angles to the first said plane, the contact supported by the bosses and means securing the contact to the bosses.

4. A contact device for a trolley Wire support comprising a resilient member formed from sheet metal having a pair of elongated spaced side portions, end portions connecting the side portions at their ends, the side and end portions forming a substantially flat and elongated member having an elongated central opening and a tongue portion projecting inwardly from each end portion and having the adjacent ends of the tongue portions free and provided with openings, the tongues positioned within the elongated central opening and spaced from the inner edges of the elongated opening.

5. A contact device for a trolley wire support comprising an elongated rectangular plate member formed from resilient sheet metal and having an elongated central opening, the elongated side portions of'the member arranged to be en gaged by a current collector, a tongue projecting into the opening from each end of the plate member and one end'of each tongue united With the end of the plate member, means at the free end of each tongue to receive securing means to attach the device to the trolley wire support, the tongues bendable whereby the height of the side portions may be varied relative to the lower edge of the trolley wire support.

SAMUEL S. MATTHES. 

